Data communication systems exchange user data for user equipment to provide various data communication services. The user equipment may be phones, computers, media players, intelligent machines, and the like. The data communication services might be media streaming, video conferencing, machine-to-machine data transfers, Internet access, or some other computerized information service. Data communication systems use wireless access points to extend the range of their communication services and enable user mobility. The wireless access points perform wireless networking tasks like device handovers, radio interference management, and multipoint coordination. In Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, the wireless access points are evolved Node Bs (eNodeBs).
To extend the wireless service footprint even more, wireless relays are used between the wireless access points and the user equipment. A wireless relay exchanges wireless signals that transport user data with user equipment. The wireless relay also exchanges corresponding wireless signals that transport the user data with the wireless access points. The wireless relay may attach to several wireless access points to obtain better service for the user equipment. To attach to the one or more wireless access points, the wireless relays must perform a wireless signal scan. The wireless relays may perform a full 360-degree wireless signal scan before attaching to a wireless access point. The wireless relays may lose connectivity and need to perform another 360-degree wireless signal scan, this process is time consuming and inefficient.